Articles

Work completed while employed at OneAdvanced (Advanced Computer Software ltd)

OneAdvanced Societal Report 2023

I was responsible for producing the OneAdvanced Societal Report 2023. This is a report designed to show the work that OneAdvanced has been doing towards the ethos of “Bettering Society” through strong ESG commitments. The project involved working with a range of stakeholders throughout the business to ensure senior buy-in and accurate information throughout. Read the report at the link below.

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5 LGBTQ+ icons who shaped the world of technology

In recognition of Pride Month, we’re celebrating the pivotal role of five remarkable individuals from the LGBTQ+ community who made indelible contributions to the world of technology. Their stories not only showcase the power of diversity and inclusion but also highlight the transformative effect personal identity can have on professional innovation. From breaking codes that helped win wars to creating the processors that power our daily digital lives, these icons have helped shape the tech landscape as we know it.

1. Alan Turing (1912-1954)

Pioneer of computing and codebreaking

Alan Turing is revered as the father of computer science and the grandfather of artificial intelligence. His ground-breaking work during World War II at Bletchley Park, where he led the team that cracked the German Enigma code, is said to have shortened the war by at least two years and saved perhaps millions of lives. Turing’s most significant achievement for the future of technology was devising the Turing Machine, an abstract symbol-manipulating device that he used to help com­plete his proof on the Entscheidungsproblem, a mathematical decision problem that had been left unresolved. His legacy is as complex as it is profound; he was persecuted for his homosexuality and tragically died by his own hand aged only 41. In 2009, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official apology and posthumously pardoned Turing. He now takes his rightful place as a well-known figure in British history, honoured by featuring on the £50 note.

2. Sally Ride (1951-2012)

Space pioneer

Sally Ride made history as the first American woman to travel to space in 1983. Her journey aboard the space shuttle Challenger – managing the deployment of communications satellites – broke through the atmosphere and the glass ceiling. But Ride’s significance extends far beyond her pioneering space flights; she was also a staunch advocate for encouraging young girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. After retiring from NASA, Ride and her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy co-founded Sally Ride Science, a non-profit organisation that works to inspire young people, especially girls, to embrace STEM subjects. Her work not only broadened the horizons of space but also the diversity of minds contributing to the world of innovation.

3. Peter Landin (1930-2009)

Programming revolutionary

Peter Landin was a visionary computer scientist who made critical contributions to programming language theory that continue to shape the design of modern programming languages. Among his significant achievements was the invention of ISWIM (If You See What I Mean), a functional programming language. Then, he introduced the concept of a “closure” for a lambda expression in his paper “The Mechanical Evaluation of Expressions,” a breakthrough which heralded rapid development in functional programming language development. Landin’s work was revolutionary, but so too was his advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights. He played an active role in the Gay Liberation Front, using his platform to advance the cause of equality and challenge a repressive society.

4. Sophie Wilson (b. 1957)

Architect of personal computing

Sophie Wilson is the architect behind the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM), a processor technology that represents the beating heart of millions of electronic devices worldwide, from smartphones and tablets to appliances and automotive systems. Her work began at the birth of the microcomputing revolution when, as a young student at the University of Cambridge, she played a pivotal role in the design of the Acorn Microcomputer. This project would eventually lead to the creation of the widely used BBC Micro, a learning tool of immense importance to a generation of UK schoolchildren. Wilson’s influence in the tech sector has been huge, as well as standing as an inspiration for Transgender people in the tech sector.

5. Tim Cook (b. 1960)

Visionary CEO and tech leader

Tim Cook became the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company when he came out in 2014. As the leader of Apple, he has continued to steer the company onto new and innovative paths. Cook has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and has championed diversity and inclusion both within Apple and beyond. His tenure at the helm of one of the world’s most recognisable tech brands has been marked by a commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, reflecting his personal values and vision for the company. Cook’s leadership has not only reshaped Apple but has set a standard for corporate leadership that emphasizes ethical business practices.

The histories of these LGBTQ+ tech icons are testaments to their intellect, creativity, and resilience in the face of adversity. They are reminders that talent knows no boundaries and that the push for inclusion and acceptance is not just a social imperative but also an economic one. Their legacies continue to inspire future generations to apply their unique perspectives to the ever-evolving world of technology, making it more innovative, more inclusive, and more reflective of the rich tapestry of humanity. As we celebrate Pride Month, we have an opportunity to honour the role that these figures have played in tech history, and the future they have helped to build.

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The paperless revolution: Reducing environmental impact through the cloud

OneAdvanced is powering a paperless future. This is something we believe we can achieve for ourselves and for our customers. Deforestation, rising costs and inefficiencies from paper-focussed workflows all mean that a reliance on paper is unsustainable.

While many people are aware of the impact of deforestation, the wider environmental impact is often understated. The production of paper from raw materials creates a great deal of pollution from energy use – accounting for 9% of manufacturing green house gas emissions globally – and chemical by-products, as well as reducing availability of clean water, with between 2 and 13 litres being used for each sheet of A4. It’s vital that we use the tools we have to make a difference.

The question is: what’s the alternative?

At OneAdvanced, we believe that a significant part of the solution is cloud migration. We provide a range of cloud-first products through our private cloud solutions, which we also use.

Cloud-based services allow greater connectivity, more data security and greater process efficiency. When dealing with paper documents, or even documents on single-point internal systems, you are more likely to lose it. You’re always at risk without a backup.

By centralising our cloud services, we make them more efficient. We become more efficient in terms of how we handle data, but also in terms of resources. That means less paper, less hardware spread around the business, and less time spent searching for what we need.

It’s not just about us

We are committed to supporting our customers to achieve the same cloud transformation that we have benefitted from. Our products and services support a large number of NHS trusts to provide critical services, and they are able to achieve that through our cloud products. This has allowed the NHS to develop and improve the services they provide to the British public.

They have also been able to make environmentally friendly changes to their practices. Through their use of the OneAdvanced portfolio, the NHS have reduced their paper usage by six tonnes per day. This has a significant impact on deforestation, paper production impact and waste management.

In the face of increased pressure from all angles, the NHS is an organisation that needs to have the very best to support them. When facing more and more difficulties on the front-line of healthcare, it’s imperative that they have the tools to keep going. Cloud-based solutions are the answer to many of their challenges.

When faced with stretched resources, a more financially efficient cloud solution can be the answer. When patient confidentiality is key and cyber-attacks are on the rise, the extra security offered by properly managed cloud systems can overcome the pitfalls of paper documents. And when time saves lives, the efficiency and convenience of cloud-based solutions can turn things around for quality patient care.

A big change

It’s not always easy to make the most of the Cloud. Updating IT infrastructure takes time and resources, which puts many organisations off from making the change. When it comes time to make the change, you need a trusted partner to make sure that you are making the most of cloud capabilities.

You also need a partner you can trust to be making the most of the environmental benefit of cloud solutions. Cloud infrastructure relies on large server centres, which use large amounts of power and cooling resources. That is why many cloud infrastructure providers are investing in greener energy solutions for server centres. At OneAdvanced, our principal partner for cloud server infrastructure is Amazon Web Services. Amazon have been investing heavily in green energy solutions to power their solutions – reaching 90% renewable-sourced electricity in 2022.

Making the decision

It’s also important to weigh the benefits of cloud solutions against the impact and resource use involved. The hardware requirements of cloud-based software do make an impact on emissions. Energy for data centres accounts for ~0.7% of CO₂ emissions globally, which is a significant figure.

This is, however, lower than the 1% attributable to paper production, which also emits a range of other pollutants. With significant investment in lowering emissions for data centres, especially through modernised cooling processes, such as Google’s evaporative cooling, these emissions can and will be reduced. The future of cloud-based solutions is one which could make a significant impact on businesses’ emissions.

At OneAdvanced, we believe that paperless is the future, and we are creating the tools to make that future work. To protect our planet and provide the latest capabilities, we are powering the world of work for the future.

Work completed while on work placement at Breatfreeks Collective (now Beatfreeks Consulting Ltd)

An article based on research carried out by Beatfreeks Collective, focussed on voting habits of young people:

https://beatfreeksyouthtrends.com/reads/6-issues-gen-z-will-be-thinking-about-on-may-6th-elections/

6 Issues Gen Z Will Be Thinking About on May 6th Elections

By Henry Kingdon

Henry Kingdon is currently interning with Beatfreeks, although he can usually be found at Birmingham City University, studying Applied Theatre: Community and Education. He has a passion for theatre and youth voice, as well as a keen interest in politics.

What issues are Gen Z talking about?

1: Careers and Education

In our research for the Institutions of the Future report, we found that careers & education are the biggest worries facing young people today. Education has been massively interrupted in the past year, which the Take the Temperature report found has caused massive disparity in mental health and clarity about the future. Education and career support will have to be front and centre for candidates if they want to win the young vote in their regions.

2: Representation

When researching for the Time and Time Again report, we found that representation was one of the biggest issues facing young people of colour in the United Kingdom, across a range of sectors; through the same research, we found that representation in government and in our leaders were the most important forms for young people. Will this affect the way that young people vote in the upcoming elections? The representatives of the two largest parties in the London Mayor elections are both people of colour, which shows a shifting landscape for representation in British politics. On the other hand, expert commentator Amira Ismail pointed out in the Time and Time Again report that “representation in the government has had no tangible effect on policies”, despite increasing diversity in the cabinet. Furthermore, there will be no non-white candidates on the ballot in the West Midlands, leaving this question of representation for people of colour unanswered.

3: The Arts

In other recently published research for National Youth Trends, we found that the majority of young people describe themselves as creative. Arts and culture funding ought to be on the table for those running in the upcoming local elections, and a lot of young people will be looking at candidates’ policies on the issue. On the 25th of April, our Insights Manager had the opportunity to grill the candidates here in the West Midlands about support for the arts. You can see their responses here. 

4: Mental Health

In the Take the Temperature report, we asked young people to sum up in one word their thoughts on the pandemic. Themes of stress and worry were central themes, which show how recent events have tested Gen Z. Will candidates take this on board to win over young voters? When mental health services are already stressed, will local authorities make the money available to ease the mental health crisis rocking the UK?

5: Money

Gen Z have been amongst the most financially hard hit in the past year. In our recent research, we found that job security and economic stability rank amongst the most important issues that young people are talking about.With the threat of an astronomical rise in youth unemployment, and a lack of financial stability facing Gen Z, what are candidates saying about supporting young people? Most economic promises have been levelled at helping small businesses, which means that Zoomers will have a hard time finding the candidates which want to support them.

6: Social Responsibility

Climate change is finally on the table in government, but are local candidates taking it as seriously as Gen Z? Our research has found that young people care more and more about social issues, including climate change, sustainability and the fight against racism. When asked, eighty-seven percent of young people we spoke to said that they would take a brand’s ethics into consideration when shopping. If Gen Z holds brands to those standards, surely politicians should be held to the same standards on the 6th of May.

Will Gen Z vote this May?

Disillusionment has long been identified as one of the main reasons for so-called “voter apathy”, but are Gen Z optimistic enough to vote in the upcoming elections? Our research suggests that seventy-five percent of young people don’t feel heard by the government on a local or national level. More young people reported feeling heard by brands than by politicians. Will this lack of faith in politicians sway Gen Z not to vote on the 6th of May? 

On the other hand, our research also shows that the vast majority of young people are invested in the issues of today, with ninety-three percent saying they care very deeply. There is certainly no great apathy amongst young people when it comes to the real issues which are affecting the world around them. Furthermore, when asked about ethics in the commercial industry, the majority of our young participants felt that ethics was a hugely important issue, which suggests that these are things which Gen Z take to heart. This deep interest in social responsibility, and Gen Z’s passion for social change may be the catalyst for a very loud young voice in the upcoming local elections.

According to the Electoral Commission, only around two thirds of Zoomers who are eligible to vote are registered. The disillusionment and lack of representation may account for a large portion of those not registered, amongst other issues. To learn more about the issues affecting young people, and the changes they want to see, we have a series of reports on young people available to download now.

Local elections across the country will take place on the 6th of May 2021. If you are registered, you will be able to vote from 7am to 10pm on polling day. Local authority positions and Police and Crime Commissioners will be up for election.

A video essay on the subject “5 Top Tips for Communicating with Gen Z”, based on our research and responding to claims made in a talk we had been invited to:

5 Top Tips for Communicating with Gen Z – Henry Kingdon for National Youth Trends

Articles Written for BCUSU Student Newspaper (Polygon/The Stripe)

An article written for November 2022’s edition, summarising the political situation at the time:

What On Earth is Going on in the House of Commons?

Well, in 500 words or fewer, this is the story of the past few months.

Boris Johnson, elected as Conservative Party leader in 2019, winning a general election that December, finally succumbed to his many scandals. Amongst his misdemeanours were the parties in Downing Street during the P****mic, accusations that he lied to Parliament about this, and the appointment of a man accused of sexual assault to a senior government post. He announced his resignation on the seventh of July this year – although it certainly feels longer than that – following the largest mass resignation of government ministers in UK history.

This triggered a leadership election in the Conservative Party, which took up most of the summer. Initially, eleven candidates ran. Three failed to get the support of enough MPs, and were forced to withdraw. After this came successive rounds of voting, with one candidate knocked out in each round, like a hellish rendition of XFactor. Eventually, only two candidates remained.

They were grilled on television to assess their policies and plans for government. On economic policy, former chancellor Rishi Sunak suggested he would carry on his previous economic policies, and described former trade secretary Liz Truss’ plans as “a fairy tale”. On social issues, the pair raced to be the most transphobic of the two, piling on top of their history of failures when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. On immigration, both backed existing plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, and Truss added a commitment to use the world’s ninth largest navy against refugees in the channel.

On education – yes this is the bit that’s very important for us – Sunak suggested winding down a range of degrees with lower graduate employment rates. While Truss wanted more focus on the top universities, like Oxbridge, and to channel more students there.

In the end, the 172,000 members of the Conservative Party elected Liz Truss as Prime Minister. WIth her mandate of 0.25% of the UK population, Liz Truss proceeded with her plan to throw out over a century of liberal economics. As David Lloyd George broke the sound barrier spinning in his grave, the pound’s value internationally fell to unprecedented lows and the Bank of England was forced to buy government-issued bonds to prop up the government’s credit score. What followed was a frankly disastrous Tory Party Conference (which left me late for multiple lectures) in Birmingham, where supporters of Truss’ government were pelted with abuse.

Last week, Liz Truss resigned, after only 45 days in office, making her the shortest serving Prime Minister ever. She beat George Canning, who died after 119 days in office. She announced her resignation on Thursday the 20th, and on Monday the 24th it was announced that the next unelected Prime Minister would be Rishi Sunak who won unopposed. 

Sunak has made several statements about his policies, including his transphobia, lack of support for gay rights and opposition to the arts in education. He has, however, promised to fix what Liz did to the economy. Only time can tell…